Interview with Elaine Ball, Founder at Elaine Ball Ltd: The World’s First Geospatial Marketer

I founded Elaine Ball Ltd in 2013 in Yorkshire, where I’m based. It’s a dedicated business and marketing consultancy for the global Geospatial industry.

We deliver business, sales and marketing consultancy to exciting companies and individuals in this important space through workshops, consultancy, training and marketing execution.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
When I realised I didn’t want to pursue an equestrian career, I started working at my father’s global company, Measurement Devices Limited (MDL) as a marketing assistant.

Although I tried a few roles in the business, including sales, I returned to marketing, rose through the ranks and became Marketing Director at the age of 24, then MD when I was 27. It’s quite a niche space to be in but I think my love for marketing and the fact that due to my father, I’ve grown up in the geospatial industry, so when I left MDL, establishing my own marketing company within that space was the perfect fit.

The main reason for the business focus was to uplevel the very technical geospatial industry in marketing and sales, as it is historically behind the times in techniques – many have only entered the digital space in the last year!
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
The main takeaway is that the companies we work with were practically forced online, which has been a real benefit to the industry – it isn’t before time! Almost overnight, the industry as a whole had to look at making their marketing digital. Throughout the pandemic, major construction projects continued so surveyors were stupidly busy, and given there is a massive shortage of surveyors, that hasn’t abated!

In terms of the development of Elaine Ball Ltd, we were continually evolving and bringing new products to the table. Everything we had been delivering in person on a global level, we have brought online and put into a course format. We launched our print comic, Get Kids into Survey – part of a global recruitment campaign to educate the next generation in the importance of survey. We have also been working on an exciting new development to be able to give more ‘geospatiallers’ (surveyors, equipment manufacturers and folks within the geospatial field) access to tried-and-tested marketing methods in their own technical language, which is all part of my bigger vision to uplevel the industry as a whole.
 

What can we hope to see from Elaine Ball Ltd in the future?

 
Helping many more geospatial companies and individuals communicate themselves to the world! Our next big thing is the formal launch of our newest product, the Geospatial Marketing Academy (GMA) This is an online programme for survey companies and equipment manufacturers/resellers, helping them to get clear on their transformations and bring a client-driven marketing approach in house.